Enhancement patterns of the normal facial nerve on three-dimensional T1W fast spin echo MRI

TY - JOUR

T1 - Enhancement patterns of the normal facial nerve on three-dimensional T1W fast spin echo MRI

AU - Warne, Richard

AU - Carney, Olivia Mary

AU - Wang, George

AU - Connor, Steve

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by the British Institute of Radiology under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - OBJECTIVES: With increasing neuroimaging applications of contemporary three-dimensional T1W fast spin echo (3D T1W FSE) sequences, it was aimed to reappraise the normal patterns of skull base facial nerve gadolinium enhancement. METHODS: Pre- and post-gadolinium 3D T1W fast spin echo imaging studies (n = 64) were retrospectively analysed in patients without suspected facial nerve pathology. Two independent observers scored the signal at each of six skull base facial nerve segments. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare changes in signal between pre- and post-gadolinium sequences at each location, and how this differed between proprietary sequences or between the pairs of facial nerves. RESULTS: There was significant enhancement at the fundal canalicular (16%), geniculate ganglion (96%), tympanic (45%) and mastoid (38%) facial nerve segments (p < 0.05). Two different proprietary sequences demonstrated similar patterns of enhancement and there was symmetry between the two sides. CONCLUSIONS: There is a differing pattern of normal facial nerve enhancement on contemporary 3D T1W FSE sequences compared to previous studies of 2D T1W SE imaging and fundal canalicular enhancement may be physiological. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This is the first study to evaluate patterns of normal facial nerve enhancement using contemporary 3D T1W FSE MRI sequences.

AB - OBJECTIVES: With increasing neuroimaging applications of contemporary three-dimensional T1W fast spin echo (3D T1W FSE) sequences, it was aimed to reappraise the normal patterns of skull base facial nerve gadolinium enhancement. METHODS: Pre- and post-gadolinium 3D T1W fast spin echo imaging studies (n = 64) were retrospectively analysed in patients without suspected facial nerve pathology. Two independent observers scored the signal at each of six skull base facial nerve segments. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare changes in signal between pre- and post-gadolinium sequences at each location, and how this differed between proprietary sequences or between the pairs of facial nerves. RESULTS: There was significant enhancement at the fundal canalicular (16%), geniculate ganglion (96%), tympanic (45%) and mastoid (38%) facial nerve segments (p < 0.05). Two different proprietary sequences demonstrated similar patterns of enhancement and there was symmetry between the two sides. CONCLUSIONS: There is a differing pattern of normal facial nerve enhancement on contemporary 3D T1W FSE sequences compared to previous studies of 2D T1W SE imaging and fundal canalicular enhancement may be physiological. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This is the first study to evaluate patterns of normal facial nerve enhancement using contemporary 3D T1W FSE MRI sequences.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107088007&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1259/bjr.20201025

DO - 10.1259/bjr.20201025

M3 - Article

SN - 0007-1285

VL - 94

SP - 20201025

JO - British Journal of Radiology

JF - British Journal of Radiology

IS - 1122

M1 - 20201025

ER -